Dedicated rescuer roasts turkey for Queens cats she loves

Debi Romano cannot sit down for Thanksgiving dinner knowing there are hungry animals outside. That's why every year, the Queens Village rescuer has been roasting a 25-pound turkey for the dozens of feral cats she cares for.

"The cats don't know it's anything special, but it helps me sleep better at night," said Romano, 50, president of the Save Kitty Foundation, which rescues feral and adoptable cats.

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For the past eight years, Romano has been tirelessly caring for 35 feral cats in seven colonies around Queens.

Every day at 4:30 p.m., Romano hops in her white Ford Crown Victoria and sets off on a two-hour, 30-mile journey.

First, she tends to Kennedy and Jackie O, who were among a group of feral cats recently relocated from JFK Airport.

Her next stop is with black cats Darryl and Darrylina, who are eagerly waiting for her under a parked red car. Romano puts down two clear lids with dry food and leaves two cans of wet food for each cat.

At Key Foods, two Siamese cats wait for her under a loading truck. One lone cat waits under a Dumpster at a laundermat, another in a Jamaica church parking lot.

Romano then heads to a rented garage, where 21 more feral and adoptable cats await dinner.

"My ferals are my life," said Romano, a former hair stylist. Her last vacation was 12 years ago.

Feral cats originate from lost or abandoned cats forced to live outdoors on their own and have become too wild to be adopted into homes.